DK is
back. Well, DK never really left, alas, he's been on hiatus
assignment. Heck, let's just fast wind sixty-six paces: this past year
was a bit of a life-changer. Single is the new name in town for
myself. Yep, you heard right, we are solo. As in esteemed bachelor. Having moved to two new homes and endured the growing pains of this
newfound self, it is natural to understand, nay, see why it took
a while for this first of a series of articles to appear under the new
ol' bandwagon.

"The
times they are changin'" sang Bob Dylan: they sure are, sings
DK! Thus, without further ado, my first review is the Luxman integrated
L-550A MkII amplifier. A brief rundown of the usual suspects yields the
obvious: Luxman is back and bigger, badder, and more hip
than ever. Kudos to one clever observer, Philip, of the O'Hanlon fame,
fortune, and family tree, for recognizing the obvious. Reviewing the
mighty MQ-88 KT88 based valve amplifier a few years back left me
yearning for more. The more came in the form of various fancy
monoblocks and do-dads, alas, most of the stuff is well, pricey.
I like keeping things under the legal limit whenever I can, hence my
interest in sub $100k, er $10k components.

The
Luxman L-550A Mk II jumps the gun at a relatively affordable $4800 US;
yet doesn't seem to skimp on features or build quality. Wait, did I say
features? Features?To be frank, I don't know of any more
full-featured integrated amplifier period. From multi-speaker
terminals, to 6 inputs (2 of which are balanced), a full fledged dual
tape monitor loop, pre-main in-out, MC/MM phono stage, classic style
balance, bass & treble controls (!) and the coup de grace: those
oh-so-swell looking VU meters gracing the front faceplate. Can you say
features? Alas, a machined aluminum remote control, replicating
most important functions also comes as standard equipment.

The
packaging is also Luxman-ish first rate: everything has its own
little place inside the double-boxed packaging and from the sheer look
and feel of it all, you'd be a fool to toss the boxes in the recycling
bin since they'd prove useful for oh perhaps twenty years or so. Setup is as straight forward as can be. It's an integrated
amplifier after all. My usual setup of Zu Presence with various
front-ends (computer, Brinkmann LaGrange, LessLoss DAC 2k4 MkII and slaved
Squeezebox 3, a mighty fine Yamaha CD-S2000 compact disc
player [review forthcoming!] to name a few) all cabled up with
Kubala-Sosna Emotion interconnects and power cords were standing by as I
began to futz around with all the bells and whistles ...er knobs,
pushbuttons, and other trinkets the 550 graces on the front panel.

So
that's the outside of the box. What's the inside harbor? Fancy you should ask...
'tis actually a full fledged Class-A amplifier! To those of you who are trippin' over the recent Class-D craze, this
Luxman is about as juxtaposed to those do-dads as can be. Yep,
that's right: all output transistors are running under full current even
when the mighty VU meters are barely blipping the ponies to 1w of
output. My experience with these types of circuits is that most
of the components I've reviewed and played with thus far have had
tremendous dynamic and bass handling capabilities, putting to shame many
far greater output power enabled Class-AB or, shock!, gasp!, awe!,
Class-D amplifiers all together. Might I also add that this fine piece
of engineering from Nippon also manages to be as opposite to my
reference Brinkmann Vollverstärker as grapes are to noodles.
Rated at a substantially and most definitively underrated 20W (!) of
output power at 8 Ohms, the 550 had better push some current if it were
to deliver on the promised goods.

Now,
the Zu Presence loudspeakers with their 101dB efficiency don't
really help matters, in a positive sort of way. Heck, I recall
reviewing the iMPAMP for the now defunct Canadian The Inner
Ear Magazine, which with barely 1-watt (!) of output managed to elicit
music out of my old pair of Zu Definition Pro's. Now that's some
insane accomplishment. Alas, the 550 isn't really rated at 20-watts
of output. That's more like Japanese humility speaking instead of facts
man! Having given the volume knob a proper beating in
DK's sub-prime bass business, I'd venture to guess that the actual
output of the 550 is more akin to 70-80-watts, if not even more. So
gut-wrenching is the performance of the Luxman in that department that
one could easily mistake it for a much more powerful solid-state
brother.

They
say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. While I won't
argue that point, I'd say that giving him the gift of this little-big
Luxman may sway a few hearts here and there too. Let's examine further,
shall we? Unless otherwise noted, all listening points and notes are
referencing all tone controls (including the defeatable loudness switch)
set to flat, i.e. out of the signal. One of the many great qualities
all Zu speakers share is their keen ability to reproduce vocals, male
and female, rather well, giving them a human like quality. Many a
great recording has passed through my system that has showcased this
exemplary feature all too well.

Flashback

As Philip the O'Hanlon, left me with [Luxman] box in hand and
warm handshake, he handed me a mysterious, padded envelope. Says the
Irish One to the Serb: "Danny, if you care to hear the Luxman at
its best, I highly recommend you replace the supplied pre-out main-in
U-turns with these here… Synergistic Research custom made these for me,
insisting them to be superior to the stock units." Say what? Philip, I do like you and all, alas, that's a bit too much
audiophilia
for me to handle. Custom made $600 U-turn Synergistic Research RCA
interconnects all less than a foot long are supposed to make a
difference in how the amp sounds?! "Where's that other neglected
genius Serb, Tesla when you need him!" was my shrugging reply.

Alas,
if the O'Hanlon insists on something, you better follow suit. Hence, the
sonic virtues of the 550 quickly discovered, I proceeded to replace the
stock U-turns. I mean, what the heck sort of difference will
that do anyway… Lo and behold, my jaw dropped at the first sight,
nay sound of said upgrade. Can this be?! Folks, fellas
and countrymen, this is not some silly-billy tiny upgrade—this is the
real deal. This is akin to spending gobs more money on ball-bearing
feet, equipment racks and other such paraphernalia. Everything was
elevated to such a clearly superior sonic performance that I promptly
decided to henceforth review the 550 only with said upgrade in
place. On the calibrated percentage meter scale, I'd say we are talking
in the realm of say 20-30% performance improvement.
Yeah, that good.

Cueing up Johnny Cash's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" from his
The Man Comes Around (2002) Rick Rubin produced album, you are
presented with a mesmerizing and classic Cash performance. Sure, the
man is old here alas, the body, weight and soul of his voice is
unmistakably reproduced with such uncanny realism (on this vinyl version
of the title played back on the all Brinkmann frontend) that once or
perhaps thrice, I had to pinch myself to realize that Cash wasn't
in the room. The 550 presented a nicely extended soundstage with gobs
of depth and width. Frequency extremes were portrayed with full
extension on both sides, if perhaps with an added sense of fullness in
the lower octaves. The top end was beautifully rendered, just the right
amount of shimmer surrounded the high frequency extremes, though I have
no bones in saying that it is the Zus here which are the main
driving factor in that range.

Given
the historic evidence from my time with various Luxman components, the
550 falls right where it needs to be: it's a bit of a valve amplifier; a
bit of a solid-state amp; it's a bit of flesh and fish, all
rolled out in one sumptuous, delicious package. Recently I have been
getting back into electronica, an old DK favorite. One such
album featured in heavier than usual rotation, is Junior Boys and their
second smash So This Is Goodbye. The first track, "Double
Shadow" opens up with a minimalist synth bass line and various
sequencers, splitters and glides. The Pro-Tools recording itself is a
smidge bright, though, unlike what is common in modern day releases, it
retains dynamic range i.e. isn't squashed to bits with 1db of
headroom. What you have then is a thoroughly enjoyable track, which
should explode from your system. 'Tis the type of music which makes
you yearn for a full range system! Alas, the Zu's driven by the 550 do
just that: explosive dynamics coupled with razor sharp focus and
timing present this sonic aura probably better than even the Junior Boys
may have heard in their studio.

Also,
on this track anyway, you will delight yourself as you dim the lights
and watch the power meters bounce around up and down, the amp pushes
hard, pedal to the metal. Think screeching 8k redline Ferrari V8 power
delivery. Yep, it's that good! Moving along to more sensuous, nay,
sumptuous music, Shelby Lynne's smash hit record "Just A Little Lovin'"
showcases the more subtle and sweet side of the Luxman. Shelby's voice
is just simply stunning; Phil Ramone's direction and equally important
production qualities shine with a beautiful glimmer and body, unlike
most anything else in recent memory. Coupled with the Zu's inherent
focus on dynamic realism and vocal performance, I can't imagine getting
much closer to the producer's intentions as through this Zu/Luxman
combo. The depth, width and sense of sheer realism exemplifies
my fondness of Luxman gear and the L-550A Mk II in particular. Sure,
with different setups you may hear more this and that, perhaps more air
around the top end, or a bit more resolution in the vocal range,

One
aspect for which the Luxman crew deserves special kudos is the inclusion
of an old audiophile no-no, tone controls and a loudness
switch. I can already hear some seasoned 'philes scream "How dare
they?!"—hey, if it ain't your cup of tea, move on, no one's holding a
barrel to your head, I say. No, I think most people are missing
the point here entirely. Allow me to illustrate: New Order's seminal
cult-classic double-album, 1987, features such hits as "Bizarre
Love Triangle." If you have ever heard this original track, you will
most likely run for cover. It's atrocious. It's awful. It's pure 80's
early digital crap. Here, however, it's awesome! Musically,
this is New Order at their prime: pop-ish, but not too much; well, ...er an
instant classic. Having said that, I simply can't listen to this
CD for any great lengths of time since it sounds so absolutely
awful.

Therein lies the magic hand, the smoking ace, the bomb surprise
of the Luxman 550: a gentle nudge on the bass (+2 @ 100Hz), a 3dB cut on
the treble control (10k) et voila—one can actually listen
to this classic! So profound is this newly found treasure that I
actually sat through song after song listening for new cues and never
before heard aspects of this production. Likewise, I have discovered
that cutting treble by about 1db when listening to 128k mp3 radio
streams off iTunes or other services for example produces a much more
natural sonic picture. The differences aren't night and day;
there's only so much one can do to a severely compressed track, alas, it
does sound better.

That
my friends are the true benefit of tone controls. The intent is
not to go nuts and turn your listening room into that teenage mutant
Honda low-rider with twin 18" woofers pumping out mind numbing bass—no, it's a far more subtle, civilized approach to tweaking that which is
inherently in need of adjustments. Last I checked that would include a
fair amount of releases, both old and new. Take that!

Much
like out of date tone controls are purpose built integrated phono
amplifiers. Yes, unlike those dreaded tone controls, you do find phono
sections in some gear these days. Luxman's approach to vinyl
follows a long lasting tradition of vinyl based memorabilia. PD-555
anyone? In case you didn't know: the 555 was Luxman's all out assault
on state of the art vinyl playback, circa. 1978. A deck that has no
equal, it commands a nice bundle even today. Several friends who own it
swear by it. Alas, a record is nothing without a phono stage, hence I
find myself switching out the phono leads from my trusted Brinkmann Fein
phono-stage to the one integrated inside the 550.

Offering front plate mounted user switchable MM and MC loading,
listening to your favorite vinyl rig is a breeze. In case of the Brinkmann EMT ti cartridge, the Luxman's MC setting proved spot on. Let's compare, shall we? The Fein is a $4500 stand alone discrete phono
stage, purpose built with all the usual Brinkmann goodies and attention
to detail. The 550 is a $4800 integrated all-in-one amplifier,
preamplifier, and phono stage. Naturally, Brinkmann's Fein
trumps the 550's phono input. It's better in every way, offering a
clearer sonic picture on all ends of the spectrum compared to the Luxman.
But the phono inside the 550 is not damaged goods either. In fact, if
I didn't have the Fein for direct comparison, I'd be hard pressed to
believe there's anything inherently missing from the picture.
There isn't. You get great sound, record after record the 550 draws
you in. Much like everything else about the Luxman sound, you get a
well-balanced, if mid-range centric performance. All's well. Unless
you have the aforementioned Fein close by. There, you get more of it
all, with a bit more neutrality to boot. Take your pick. I'd go for the
550; spending serious coin on the Fein almost prescribes you having a
decent set of amps, speakers and front end to begin with.

In
the end, the Luxman proves the point to a T. Japanese high performance
integrated amplifiers need not cost serious coin and they can very much
hold their own when it comes to sonic virtues. Do I have better stuff
in my arsenal? Well, the Threshold T400 behemoth for one will mop the
floor the Luxman sits on when it comes to ultimate dynamic fidelity and
extension. It is also the more neutral amp (something I had scribbled
about during the MQ88 review); alas the 550 is a great performer and an
all in one package which costs a reasonable amount of green
backs. How can you beat that? Highly recommended and leaving me
wanting to hear the 550's bigger brother, the 590A MkII. It is
supposedly marginally more powerful (30-watts), yet costs more than
double the price of the 550, ringing in the coin at a click shy of 10k.
Something's up here... Danny Kaey